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Birdland (The Yardbirds Album)
''Birdland'' is a studio album by the reconstituted English rock group the Yardbirds, which was released in 2003, and the band's fifth studio album overall. Original drummer Jim McCarty and rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja reformed the group in 1994 and for the album, the Yardbirds lineup included lead singer and bassist John Idan, lead guitarist Gypie Mayo, and harmonica player Alan Glen. The album features contributions by several guests, including Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash, Brian May, and original group guitarist Jeff Beck. The album contains seven new originals, composed mainly by McCarty or Dreja, and eight remakes of classic Yardbirds songs from the 1960s. The song "An Original Man (A Song for Keith)" was dedicated to Keith Relf, original Yardbirds singer who died in 1976. ''Birdland'' reached number 25 on ''Billboard's'' Independent Albums chart in the US and number 67 in Germany. Critical reception In a review for AllMusic, critic Richie Unterberger gave the album two o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including " For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down". Originally a blues-based band noted for their signature "rave-up" instrumental breaks, the Yardbirds broadened their range into pop, pioneering psychedelic rock and early hard rock; and contributed to many electric guitar innovations of the mid-1960s. Some rock critics and historians also cite their influence on the later punk rock, progressive rock and heavy m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper ''The Daily Pennsylvanian'' and in the early 1980s was a deejay on the Penn radio station, WXPN-FM. Just prior to graduating in late 1982, he started reviewing records for '' Op'' magazine, which marked the start of his career as a freelance writer. From 1985 to 1991, Unterberger was an editor for '' Option''. Since 1993, he has been a prolific contributor to AllMusic, the on-line database of music biographies and album reviews, for which he has written thousands of entries, and many of his on-line contributions have been printed in the AllMusic guide series. Unterberger contributes to various local and national publications, including ''Mojo'', ''Record Collector'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Oxford American'', and '' No Depression''. He has writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Rzeznik
John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik (; born December 5, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the founder, guitarist and frontman of the American rock band Goo Goo Dolls, with whom he has recorded 14 studio albums. Early life Rzeznik was born in Buffalo, New York, the youngest of five children and only son of Edith (née Pomeroy) and Joe Rzeznik, a bar proprietor and postal clerk. Both of Rzeznik's parents were musicians, playing the clarinet and flute. Rzeznik had a strict Catholic upbringing in Buffalo's working-class East Side Polish neighborhood and attended Corpus Christi Grammar School. All four of Rzeznik's grandparents were born in Poland. The original pronunciation of his last name Rzeźnik is "Zhezh-neek" (zh as in bei''ge'') , Polish for "butcher". Rzeznik's father died at the age of 53 on February 2, 1981, from a diabetic coma when Rzeznik was 15 years old. On October 26, 1982, his mother died at the age of 51 from a sudden heart attack in the family's liv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc, Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned several hits for major rock and pop groups such as the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits, and Ohio Express, among others. Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968 Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England into a Jewish family. He played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963, including the High Spots, the Crevattes, the Planets and the Whirlwinds, which became a house band at his local Jewish Lads' Brigade. The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Maurice Sperling (vocals/drums), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV, releasing a recording of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
For Your Love
"For Your Love" is a rock song written by Graham Gouldman and recorded by English group the Yardbirds. Released in March 1965, it was their first top ten hit in both the UK and the US. The song was a departure from the group's blues roots in favour of a commercial pop rock sound. Guitarist Eric Clapton disapproved of the change and it influenced him to leave the group. Background Gouldman wrote the song at the age of 18 while working by day in a gentlemen's outfitters near Salford Docks and playing by night with the semi-professional Manchester band the Mockingbirds. Gouldman cited the Beatles as his influence: The Yardbirds were performing on a Christmas show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and song publisher Ronnie Beck played the song to their manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, and the band. Recording The Yardbirds recorded "For Your Love" at the IBC Studios in London on 1 February 1965. The majority of the song was recorded with singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense consultant and advised U.S. members of Congress on missile defense. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Doobie Brothers in 2020. Early life and education Jeffrey Baxter was born in Washington, D.C., and spent some of his formative years in Mexico. He graduated from the Taft School in 1967 in Watertown, Connecticut, and was a self-described preppie. At Taft, he played drums in an upperclassmen band, King Thunder and the Lightning Bolts. He enrolled at the School of Public Communication (now College of Communication) at Boston University in September 1967, where he studied journalism while continuing to perform with local bands. His freshman roommate was blues musician James Montgomery. Music career Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Samwell-Smith
Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul Smith, 8 May 1943, in Richmond, Surrey, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched leading guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page to fame. As a youth, Samwell-Smith attended Hampton School with Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty. While in the Yardbirds, he co-produced and engineered much of their music, working with record producers such as Mickie Most, Simon Napier-Bell and Giorgio Gomelsky. Samwell-Smith was a major contributor to the original tracks written by the Yardbirds during his tenure with the band. He left the group in June 1966 to pursue a career as a record producer. The Yardbirds In late May 1963, he formed the Yardbirds with Keith Relf, Anthony Topham, Chris Dreja, and Jim McCarty. During this period his primary instrument was a short-scale Epiphone Rivoli bass. He played on the UK albums, ''Five Live Yard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mose Allison
Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to New York in 1956, he worked primarily in jazz settings, playing with jazz musicians like Stan Getz, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, along with producing numerous recordings. He is described as having been "one of the finest songwriters in 20th-century blues."Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris, eds. (2003). ''All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues''. Hal Leonard. p. 7. His songs were strongly dependent on evoking moods, with his individualistic, "quirky", and subtle ironic humor.Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter, eds. (2006). ''The Blues Encyclopedia''. Routledge. p. 22. His writing influence on R&B had well-known fans recording his songs, among them Pete Townshend, who recorded his "Young Man Blues" for the Who's ''Live at Leeds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Lukather
Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums ''Down Two Then Left'' (1977) and ''Middle Man'' (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including '' Thriller'' (1982). Lukather has released eight solo albums, the latest of which, '' I Found the Sun Again'', was released in February 2021. Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as Al Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is a song by the English group the Yardbirds. Written and recorded in 1966, it is considered one of their most progressive works. The song was the group's first to feature the dual-lead guitar line-up of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The two contribute an array of guitar parts during the instrumental sections, described as "a full-on six-string apocalypse". Lyrically, it deals with notions of past life and ''déjà vu''. The song was released as a single to mixed reviews and was less successful on the record charts than the group's previous efforts. More recently, it has been acknowledged for its inventiveness and contribution to the early development of psychedelic music. Several elements have influenced songs by other musicians. Background "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" came about in the period after Yardbirds' founding member and bassist, Paul Samwell-Smith, left the group to pursue record production full-time. In June 1966, he was replaced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mister, You're A Better Man Than I
"You're a Better Man Than I", alternately listed as "Mr. You're a Better Man Than I" or "Better Man Than I", is a song first recorded by the English rock band the Yardbirds. It was written by brothers Mike and Brian Hugg, and became the opening track to the group's second American album, '' Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds'' (1965). Three months later in February 1966, it was released in the UK as the B-side to the "Shapes of Things" single. With its politically conscientious lyrics and catchy melody, "You're a Better Man Than I" has been covered several times. A version by American garage rock band Terry Knight and the Pack appeared on ''Billboard'' magazine's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Critical commentary In a song review for AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald writes: Besides the lyrics, he adds that " Jeff Beck's sinewy electric guitar solo is the most identifiable ingredient in the brilliant arrangement". Recordings by other artists In February 1966, Terry Knight and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vintage Guitar (magazine)
''Vintage Guitar'' is an American magazine that focuses on vintage and classic guitars, amplifiers, effects, and related equipment, as well as notable guitarists from all genres and eras. The publication's feature stories and monthly columns cover a diverse range of topics by contributors, including some of the biggest names in the industry and renowned authorities like Dan Erlewine, George Gruhn, Wolf Marshall, Richard Smith, and Seymour W. Duncan, as well as some of the best-known writers in the field, including Pete Prown, Walter Carter, Dan Forte, Dave Hunter, Rich Kienzle, Michael Dregni, John Peden, Greg Prato, and others. The magazine's classified-ad section provides readers with access to classic, used and new guitars, amps, accessories, books, videos, and more. Other editorial content focuses on reviews of music as well as informed, objective reviews of new gear. ''Vintage Guitar'' also includes monthly repair columns written by noted repair expert/luthier Dan Erlewine. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
